Atmospheres
by Io Europa 2010
Summary: An unseen entity sends Raven, and later Starfire, on a remarkable trip. But what is the purpose? Can they handle the isolation from their friends? And what will become of them? Very loosly based on elements from 2001. [Complete]
1. Chapter 1

_The entity arrived at the planet known as Earth. It knew that the being it had to seek out was here. Its mission was to evaluate it, and then decipher the results. In the end, it would determine whether or not this being was an insurmountable threat to life on the world, or if there was a chance it would redeem itself. The being was known to live on the west coast of the North American continent. The entity zeroed in on it, looking for the place known as Jump City. In the harbor was the target, Titans Tower. The entity awaited its opportunity… _

Raven floated in her room, alone as usual, deep into meditation. The events of the past month have had taken its toll on her feelings; her dealings with Slade and the revealing of her destiny to her fellow teammates. And then there was the stressful trip on that space station that disagreed with her senses. It was more agreeable later, though, when she was practically worshipped by those strange beings. She was in a blissful state, a situation that came to an abrupt end by the T-ship's arrival. With a bit of remorse in her heart, she left the beings for her real home, back on Earth in Titans Tower.

Knowing real pleasure now, Raven tried all sorts of relaxation techniques to duplicate the feeling, but none were quite the same. Not even her meditation worked. And it wouldn't be right to ask her friends to wait on her, hand and foot, and to worship her and relax her. She couldn't morally justify it. So, she just relaxed the only way she knew how.

It wasn't really working. She opened her eyes and stood up.

"What's wrong with me?" she said aloud.

No answer was forth coming. She glanced out her window. It was sunset. She could see a faint crescent moon in the sky. That somewhat elevated her feelings. She reveled in darkness. She felt somewhat freer in the dark. And yet, she also felt dread. A dread of things to come. A dread of her true nature, her ultimate destiny.

"I must relax!" she told herself. "I can't let this defeat me!"

She sat down crossed her legs in lotus style and began to recite her usual chant.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos….azarath, metrion, zinthos…"

She kept this up for half an hour when a strange sensation crossed her mind. It was a feeling that she was no longer alone. She stood up and opened her eyes. What she saw made her gasp! Not even a yard from her was a large, black object. It was rectangular in shape, almost twice her height. She examined the thing, wondering what it was and how it got there. It was completely smooth, and seemed to swallow all light that touched it. It was almost like a work of art to Raven, something she would conjure up. Of course, she could come up with something better than just an ebon block.

Exactly who put the thing there was beyond her. Slade? No, it wasn't his style. He had a flair for the dramatic, and there was nothing dramatic about an inert, black rectangle. Could it be a trick by Mad Mod, or perhaps Mumbo Jumbo? Or maybe a member of the H.I.V.E? For the life of her, Raven couldn't guess who or what sent this thing.

She made her way to her door to get the other Titans, when she sensed something. She turned, and noticed a peculiar change about the black monolith. It wasn't completely black anymore, but peppered with spots of light on it, like someone sprinkled salt on it. She examined it closer and saw that the points of light were….stars?

"My god!" she said aloud. "It's full of stars!"

Indeed, it reminded her of a dark, cloudless night, with thousands of stars in the sky. In the monolith, she swore there had to be a million or more.

Raven barely had time to recover from her awe when she felt some invisible force draw her toward the monolith. She immediately struggled, but the force was too great.

"Let go of me, damn it!" she said aloud.

The monolith didn't respond. Raven gripped the floor as tight as she could. She stopped her 'fall' into the starry void. What surprised her is that nothing else in the room was disturbed, not even the air! There was just a silent tug, pulling on Raven. She was trying to figure out what she could do in the way of using her powers, when she felt her boots fly off her feet. Apparently, whatever force was concentrated only on her. Then, her cloak began to rip and that too was torn off and sucked into the void.

"What now?" she said aloud.

Then Raven felt her leotard and belt begin to loose their integrity. The belt gave way with a metallic 'snap!', while her leotard started to rip apart.

"Don't you dare!" she said.

She had to decide whether or not to risk letting one hand go to hold her leotard together, or to just sacrifice her modesty. The monolith made the decision for her as her costume gave way quicker than she thought. Now she was naked and holding on for dear life!

"What's next?" she wondered.

Raven actually felt that if the monolith didn't relinquish its hold on her, her skin would then be torn off her body. She once saw a horror film that depicted such a thing. Not a pretty picture and certainly not something she wanted to experience. Reluctantly, Raven let go of the carpet and was pulled in to the unknown. As soon as she passed through the gateway, the highly localized gravitational pull had ceased, the stars vanished, and the monolith was inactive once more.

Raven found herself floating in space. She though she was going to die in the vacuum, when she realized she was still breathing.

'Weird!' she thought. She then noticed she was flying rather rapidly toward an endless sea of stars. Whatever was going on, she had no clue. She felt rather chilly and realized she was still naked.

"Damn it!" she said aloud. "I'm probably going to meet some advanced race in my birthday suit!"

She then wondered if it might be the little aliens she met once before that were behind this. If so, just how did they manage such a feat? They didn't seem too advanced. She hoped that if it WAS that race, that they'd have a change of clothes for her.

Raven stared straight ahead. The stars suddenly blacked out! What happened? Did she reach the end of the galaxy? A new view then emerged. Raven squinted her eyes to see what it was. A nebula! A great, colorful nebula lay ahead! 'Why am I here?' Raven wondered. She was lead through the huge cloud, past proto-stars and proto-planets. The trip didn't take long, and she was plunged into darkness again. She next was shown a huge, red star. How big it was, she couldn't tell as there was nothing nearby to compare it to. The star seemed to be getting smaller, either because it was shrinking or she was moving from it. The star became a point of red light eventually. That didn't last; a titanic explosion followed, blinding Raven for a moment! When she could see again, she saw it was a supernova she had witnessed! Whatever force was at work had protected her from the devastation of that awful explosion, that would eventually lead to life somewhere else in the galaxy. Why she was allowed to see it, she didn't know.

Raven's next stop was a surprisingly familiar one; the colorful world of Jupiter! At first, it was a small clouded ball that grew rapidly in size. She didn't see the smaller moons, but did go by the infamous major moons, first seen in the year 1610. Callisto was the fist she passed, a world of craters, rock, and ice; then came Ganymede, a world of various terrains. Europa was next, a smooth billiard ball of a world, coved in ice. Whether or not an ocean was under that ice was not revealed to Raven. She instead continued to Io, a world that was the real-life counterpart of Mordor from 'The Lord of the Rings'. Volcanoes that spewed out molten rock and sulfur many miles high were scattered about this tortured world.

Raven had little time to muse over it as she descended toward Jupiter's cloud tops. She passed in and out of huge thunderstorms and vortexes, down drafts and updrafts and jet streams of various sorts. The noise of the commotion around her reached her ears; it was like a hurricane with the volume turned all the way up! Raven had her ears covered most of the time. She then was introduced to an absolutely titanic storm formation that appeared reddish. It could only be Jupiter's famous storm, the Great Red Spot. She plunged into it, seeing only lightning and hearing only supersonic wind. Above all, it was dark.

Raven was still trying to figure out why she was there when all became silent and pitch black. There was no light, no sound except for Raven's breathing. She began to shudder.

"Am I dead?" she asked aloud.

Her answer came in the form of light; she was now in a bright white room. It was nicely furnished, and exceptionally clean, even by Raven's standards. She was lying on a tiled floor. She slowly got up to avoid a blood rush. She stood in the room, at the foot of a large bed.

"Where the hell am I now?" she wondered.

She looked around and saw a door. She walked to it and saw it lead to a bathroom. Curious, she went inside it. It looked clean and unused. Most of one wall was a mirror. When Raven looked at it, she realized she was still naked. She went back to the bedroom in hopes of finding the remains of her clothes that she lost earlier. No such luck. She then tried to open the drawers. They worked, but nothing was in them.

"Don't tell me I have to spend my entire time here naked?" she said to herself.

She then noticed a closet. She dashed to it and tried the door. It didn't open! Realizing her quest for clothes was futile here, she resumed her explorations of the 'house'. In the bathroom, she found a wash cloth, a towel, and a white robe. She put on the robe, which was rather short on her. The color disagreed with her; normally she has a dark blue robe at Titans Tower. And it was longer than this one. She still felt a little chilly.

She then noticed a second door and opened it. It lead to a combination dining room and kitchen. Curious, Raven walked toward it. The table, like everything else in the house, was white. A single chair was next to it. She examined the contents of the refrigerator. It was a healthy selection of food items, mostly fruits and vegetables. An examination of the cabinets revealed canned soups and vegetables. There was also herbal tea. An electric stove and a dishwasher completed the inventory of appliances.

Raven felt thirsty, found a tall glass, and got some water from the faucet. She sniffed it, ensuring it wasn't poisonous, and downed the glass. It tasted great! Raven had a few more glassfuls of water. After satisfying her thirst, she continued her investigations. There was a living room adjacent to the kitchen, which had a door that lead back to the bedroom. There were no windows or doors. Raven found this rather odd. She went back into the bedroom.

Despite wearing the robe, Raven still felt a need for real clothes. She decided to see what she could do with the blanket on the bed. She tried to summon her powers, but it was to no avail.

"Damn."

She simply sat down, trying to make sense of things.

She was stripped of her powers, her clothes, and her friends. The latter was her biggest loss. Raven started to cry.

"Why the hell am I here? What do you want with me?" she asked.

Nothing. Just silence. Raven paced the room like a caged animal. She went into the living room, walking around the white furniture. She saw a cabinet and opened it, see a television. She had no desire for watching TV at the time, and so closed the doors. There were problems to solve.

Hours later, Raven was still no closer to figuring out her purpose in the white 'house' or who put her there. Was she part of a science experiment of a sort? Was she now some alien child's plaything? That thought unnerved her. Was she there to learn something? Or was it part of an automated system that had been triggered by her powers and she just happened to be caught by it?

Exhausted by her mental efforts, Raven helped herself to a nice warm bath. She didn't feel too bad afterwards, though she still felt a need for companionship. Even an appearance by Beast Boy would be welcome. She wondered what his reaction would be if he was stuck with her, dressed only in a short, white robe.

After drying off, she then lay on the bed, trying to make sense of it all. How long would she be here? A week? A year? A day? Forever? Why was she there at all? What being constructed the house in the first place?

Raven was still pondering these questions when she sensed a presence. She looked and saw…the monolith! She sat up in the bed, shuddering.

"What do you want?" she asked.

No response. Raven repeated her question. The ebon block merely stood there. Raven felt it was pointless to question the inert mass. In fact, everything now seemed pointless. She was somewhere, she didn't know where, amidst the galaxy. Perhaps she was at Jupiter itself, as she saw earlier. And there was nothing she could do about it. Raven felt a feeling of acceptance creep upon her. Standing up, she took off the robe and flung it at the monolith.

Naked once more, she climbed in the bed, let herself relax and fell asleep. The monolith came to life a short while after, but quietly as to not wake Raven. It pulsed with white light, examining the subject before it.

'So this is the one that will end life on Earth,' it pondered. 'Curious.'

Without instrumentation, the monolith probed deeper into Raven's being. She seemed a normal humanoid organism, with a few exceptions, such as the jewel on her head. The monolith knew that it had something to do with her chakra. It was versed in such things.

What to do with the subject was an interesting matter. As part of its programming, it had shown her various sights that it had visited once before to see what the reactions would be. It then observed her in the control environment of a typical household. The being was mostly concerned with her lack of companionship and her purpose of being studied. This seemed odd for such a potentially destructive creature.

Evaluating its options, the monolith reached a conclusion. The subject would be returned to its home. It could very well change its destiny if it had the right influence. There was no need to alter it or destroy it. By her very human nature, Raven was spared from destruction. She was allowed to sleep before being sent back to Titans Tower.

It was next morning when Robin had entered Raven's room to investigate why she didn't come down for breakfast. He was shocked to see a large black object inside. He figured it was either a work of art in progress by Raven, or something more. The monolith then became luminous and dropped Raven on the floor. As mysteriously as it came, the monolith was gone, vanished without a trace.

Robin bent down to see if Raven was alive. She coughed and stood up too quickly. Robin steadied her.

"What happened? Where am I?" she said.

"You're back at Titans Tower," Robin told her. "But as to what happened, you'll have to tell me."

Raven sighed. "I hardly know myself."

Robin shrugged. "Well, we got breakfast going. Let's just say you overslept."

"Good idea." Raven replied.

Robin nodded, and then noticed something out of place about her. He chuckled.

"What?" Raved asked, perplexed. She suddenly realized what it was, and tried to cover herself with her arms.

"Don't tell the others you saw me like this!" she growled.

"Nope, I won't!" Robin replied, hilariously, blushing and walking a bit too slowly for Raven's liking. Longing for justice, Raven used her powers (which had now returned) to envelope Robin's costume. She then tore it off, leaving him naked as well.

"Raven!" he yelled at her.

"Gotcha!" she replied, no longer covering herself.

Robin was in a panic! "If Starfire see us like this, then…!"

"I'll just say my powers got out of hand, that's all!" she said with a smile.

Flustered, Robin stormed out of Raven's room to his own to get a new uniform. He practically slammed her door on his way out.

Giggling, Raven got dressed. It had certainly been an interesting day, no doubt. And a confusing one at that, as well. She finished dressing, and joined the rest of the Titans. 'Nothing like a space odyssey to clear your head.' she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_The next day, the entity continued its watch over the curious beings known as the Teen Titans. It was now curious about the others from its study of Raven. The one named Beast Boy, despite his odd behavior, was intellectually dull. No wonder the one called Raven often disliked him. The one called Cyborg was part machine. The technology was nothing interesting compared to what the entity knew. His personality was mixed, but not hard to figure out. And the one called Robin possessed leadership and combat skills over his teammates. He was dedicated to his team. Aside from some personal issues, which the entity was not interested in, there was little to him that was not a mystery. That left the Tamaranean, Starfire. The entity had little dealings with Tamaraneans. It wondered more about Starfire, despite her less than sterling intellect. At least, she seemed that way. And yet, she had potential. Perhaps she was worth the entity's time. Yes. It would examine Starfire at close range next. It waited for the right moment…_

"Ladies and gentleman!" cried Cyborg. "Presenting the Amazing Beast-dini!"

On the roof of Titans Tower, Beast Boy was hanging upside down from a scaffolding, bound in chains. A cannon was pointed at him. The other Titans watched.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Robin asked.

"Hey, I'm a professional!" Beast Boy retorted.

"What exactly is the point of this?" Raven said.

"We're going to see if we can do acts for kid's parties on the side." Cyborg explained.

"That way, we can do more good for the city aside from kicking butt. Still," he mused, "Kicking butt IS a good hobby!"

"Whatever, Cy!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Just get on with the act!"

"Right." Cyborg prepared to light the fuse. "And now, behold! The Great Beast-dini will attempt to escape his bonds before this cannon fires! Ready?"

"Fire away, Cy!" the changeling replied. Cyborg lit the fuse with a built in lighter.

"And now, watch the master in action!" he exclaimed.

Beast Boy grunted as he tried to work himself free.

"I saw Teller do this once…" he said. Suddenly, there was a metallic clinking. A key fell down. "Um, Cy, could you get that? That key is kind of important!"

Raven started giggling. "Wow that IS amazing! He dropped his means of escape!"

Meanwhile, the cannon fuse was getting shorter by the second!

"Um, I do believe the cannon is about to fire!" Starfire exclaimed.

Cyborg quickly picked up the key and unlocked the chains from Beast Boy.

"Hey! I could've done that!" he protested.

"Fine!" Cyborg replied. "Have it YOUR way!"

He walked off, leaving Beast Boy struggled with the loose chains. The cannon was now a few seconds from firing!

"Aw, to hell with it!" he exclaimed, turning into a snake.

He slithered out of sight just before the cannon exploded in a cloud of black smoke and bright flame! Raven put out the fire.

"Too much powder there, Cy." she said.

Starfire applauded. "Good job, friend Raven! And you too, Beast Boy, for your narrow escape."

He resumed human form. "Thank you, thank you! I'm here all week!"

"And let's keep it that way!" Robin said. "No more stunts, okay?"

Beast Boy sighed. "Well, Cy. Back to the drawing board."

The Titans all went back inside for dinner.

It was Starfire's choice of food tonight. In preparation, the Titans each secretly took a large dose of Pepto Bismol before seating themselves. Her food selection seemed surprisingly normal, consisting of various vegetables and what looked like white steaks.

"What is it?" asked Robin.

"Well, I decided to try my hand at Earth cooking." she explained. "I stopped at the pier earlier today, and a kind man gave me some extra fish he called mackerel."

Beast Boy turned a darker shade of green. "Oh man, Star! Its meat! Real meat! I can't eat that!"

Cyborg grabbed his friend's plate. "More for me then! I love fish as much as any meat!"

Robin chuckled. "I wish Aqualad could hear that!" he laughed.

"You know," Raven began. "Fish IS considered to be brain food. Maybe Beast Boy is afraid of increasing his IQ?"

The shape-shifter shot an evil glance at her.

"I'm tired of you and your jokes about my brain!" he said. "Can't you come up with something new?"

Raven shrugged and resumed her dinner. Starfire indulged in her own cooking as well, surprising herself. Cyborg's teachings had done wonders for her skills. Beast Boy, meanwhile, helped himself to a heaping plate of salad.

Afterward, Robin did the dishes and cleaned the dinner table, while Cyborg and Beast Boy engaged in their favorite racing game on the Gamestation. Raven, as usual, was reading a thick book. Starfire decided to read the latest issue of Cosmopolitan, which she picked up at a convenience store. When he finished cleaning the kitchen, Robin sat next to Starfire to read his own magazine, one about martial arts.

Near midnight, the Titans started to turn in for the day. Starfire was the first to head to her room.

"Good night, Robin!" she said to him on her way to her room.

"Good night, Star!" he replied, about to head to the security room and lock down the tower.

In her room, Starfire had gathered her showering supplies; soap, shampoo, conditioner, a towel, a change of underwear, and a silky, pink robe. She took off her boots, gathered her showering materials, and was about to head out the door when…WHAM! She ran into something! It felt like she walked into a wall. She thought she did, when she realized her bed was nearly 10 feet away from the wall in the direction she was walking. Clearing her vision, and setting down her showering supplies, she looked at what she ran into. It was a tall, black rectangle!

"What is this?" she said aloud.

She felt the thing over, trying to guess what it was. She sniffed it as well, determining it wasn't a giant bar of dark chocolate as she thought it could be. A gift from Raven? It was dark and lacking in intricacy. Raven's style was typically like that. She decided that's what it must be. As it also appeared out of nowhere, and only Raven could do that amongst the occupants of the Tower, it was a theory that made sense.

Accepting the gift, she walked over to it and picked it up with both arms. It wasn't particularly heavy, but it was rather awkward. She set it next to her dresser. Admiring it, she knocked on it as if it was a door, just for fun. It felt hard as metal, but gave a ringing sound like a crystal.

Starfire was about to pick up her things, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. The monolith was peppered with glowing dots. They were stars!

"How lovely!" Starfire said aloud. "It is full of stars!"

She walked to it, even more curious about it. She rubbed her hand on it. It was still smooth. That is, until Star's hand suddenly dropped inside the starry void! Starfire shrieked! She tried to escape, but a powerful grip pulled her inside! Starfire vanished from sight, leaving her room empty, except for the monolith, which resumed its black, featureless form.

Starfire screamed as she was flung headlong through the star gate. When she calmed down, though, she realized she was in no real danger. Yet. She was unconcerned too, as her species could tolerate the conditions of space. What was unnerving, however, was the fact that a force outside of her own was propelling her through the galaxy to parts unknown. She was scared, wishing for Robin's company. She tried to fight against the force, but it was useless. Suddenly, the stars seemed to all go out! Starfire shuddered at the darkness. She hated darkness.

Then, something appeared in front of her. It was a nebula of some sort. A planetary nebula! To Starfire, it seemed a lovely display of celestial mechanics. It reminded her of a huge flower, with multiple hues. She tried to reach out and touch it, but whatever was behind her journey shielded her from the outside world. And even if it did not, the gases were thinner than that of a fog on Earth.

"Am I on a tour of some sort?" Starfire said aloud.

As she did, something caught her attention. It was the central star, a white dwarf. She shuddered at the sight. These tiny stars, slightly larger than Earth, had terrible gravity. Even a Tamaranean could not stand it! Fortunately, the scene vanished. Starfire waited for the next wonder to come into view.

When it did, she was taken aback. It was an open star cluster, the Pleiades! The brilliant, blue stars and the faint nebula present made for a beautiful view for the Tamaranean girl. She thought of the Earth legend behind them, which said something about seven sisters. Starfire immediately thought of her own sister, and felt regret for her.

She returned her thoughts to the view, which unfortunately has vanished. The next destination was one that was prominent in Starfire's memory; Saturn! The ringed planet provided Starfire with a prominent impression of the Terran system when she first arrived there. To her, it was the most beautiful planet, aside from Earth itself, of course!

She was swung past the rings, toward the giant orange moon, Titan. Starfire was bemused at the fact this moon, which was as orange as she was, was called simply "Titan". 'Perhaps one day,' she thought, 'When I have long since passed on, this moon might be named Koriand'r!' She laughed at the thought.

Now, she was approaching another moon, one rather strange in appearance. The moon had one dark side, one light side. It was none other than Iapetus. The moon was literally two-faced, for reasons unknown. Perhaps the Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, would reveal the answer. Starfire suddenly thought how funny it would be if the Cassini craft took a picture of her floating in space! Perhaps her friends might see it and…

The view of Iapetus vanished. Starfire waited for the next wonder, but none was forthcoming. She was scared. Then, a bright light filled her vision. When she could see again, she saw she was in a stark, white room.

It was rather lovely, though bare. There was no carpet, simply white tiles, with black lines in between. Starfire stood up and examined the room.

"Hello?" she said.

"Is someone her?"

She wondered who might be behind this whole thing. She though it could be Mad Mod, but if that was so, why didn't he reveal himself or attempt to hypnotize her? Could it be Mumbo Jumbo? No, this wasn't his style. Slade? But then why would he come after her, when his current interest was Raven? Was it to make Raven or Robin mad?

Wait! The gift from Raven! Starfire concluded this was a joke or something by Raven.

"Okay Raven, this is very hilarious! Now please show yourself?"

There was no answer. Starfire went through a partially open door. It lead to a bathroom. Out of curiosity, she tried the sink, the tub and shower fixture and the toilet. All functioned normally. Another door was in the bathroom. She followed that to a kitchen. It had all the normal appliances of Titans Tower.

The food, upon Starfire's examination, was rather limited in selection. And there were no other beverages available, aside from water and tea leaves.

"This HAS to be Raven's doing!" Starfire said. "Hello! Raven? Can you hear me? I do not know what manner of game this is you are playing, but I would like you to show yourself! Please?"

There was still no response. Starfire found a tall glass and drank some water. It was surprisingly good tasting, especially compared to the city water back home, which, unfiltered, tasted awful!

Starfire resumed her exploration. She came upon the living room, which was also tiled, like the rest of the 'house'. She saw no doors or windows that lead outside. And she was afraid to damage the wall, least a horrible thing might happen! Another door led back the bedroom. Sighing, she returned to the living room and sat down in a chair.

It was nice and comfortable. There was nothing to read, however. 'Raven would go crazy here!' she thought. She found a remote control, wondering what it went to. She then noticed the large, white cabinet in front of the chair. She went to it and opened the large doors on its face. There was a modest sized plasma screen television there. Sitting down again, Starfire turned it on. Surprisingly, it worked.

She flipped through the channels, stopping at 'Lifetime'. She paused there, and then continued to channel surf. She found 'Oxygen' as well. After a few minutes of surfing, she flipped between 'Lifetime' and 'Oxygen'. She rarely got to watch those channels at home; the three boys hated them, and Raven didn't care one way or another. In fact, Raven rarely watched TV, which was probably why she was so smart at times. Starfire chuckled at that thought. For all she knew, it might be true!

After an hour or so of watching the shows between the two channels, she turned the TV off. She was sleepy and still hadn't showered. Going to the bedroom, she looked for showering supplies. There was nothing there.

"Damn." she said aloud. Not even a change of clothes.

Going into the bathroom, she found a bar of soap, a wash cloth, and a towel. Taking the robe with her, Starfire returned to the bedroom and removed her armbands, then her collar device (she remembered she took off her boots before she ran into the monolith). She closed the door that lead to the living room. She went back to the bathroom and closed the door that lead to the kitchen. She didn't want to risk the chance of someone walking in on her.

Going back to the bedroom, she took off her halter top, her skirt, and her purple underwear. She stretched, cracking a few joints. Naked, she carried the robe with her as she went into the bathroom. She enjoyed a long hot shower, feeling relaxed and cleansed. Afterwards, she dried herself with the towel. She tried to dry that and the wash cloth with her powers, but for some reason they didn't work! Confused by this, she simply hung them up.

Putting the robe on, she returned to the bedroom. Starfire placed her clothes on the top of the dresser and laid down on the bed. She turned off the lights to the room, leaving the bathroom as the only source of light. Starfire considered turning off those lights too, but realized it would be too dark for her liking.

Lying down, she sighed. It was now obvious that Raven had nothing to do with the monolith or her trip through space. So what was it then? An alien intelligence of some sort? If so, what did they want with her? Could an automated system also have brought her here? If so, what did that mean for her? That she would sit out here in this place for the rest of her life? That thought frightened her even more than the dark.

"I want to see Robin again!" she cried out. "I want to be with my friends! Why am I here? What do you want with me?"

She started crying. The pain of being alone, without her friends that she loved so much was too much for the young girl. Sobbing, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

At the foot of her bed, appeared the monolith. It sensed the pain and anguish of Starfire, her need for friendship. To keep her locked up without a friend was cruelty to her. Especially when it came to the one called Robin. She had strong feelings for him. Understanding what it wanted to know, the monolith waited until Starfire woke up to summon its powers and send her home.

When Starfire did rise, she was confused at the dark shape in the room. After turning on the lights and seeing the monolith, she screamed.

"What do you want?" she yelled.

It didn't respond. Realizing it was just an inanimate object, Starfire discarded the robe she had slept in, and got dressed in the clothes she had on yesterday. When she finished, the monolith started to glow.

"What are you doing now?" she asked. She was sucked into it without warning. The empty 'house' then vanished back into the mind of its creator.

Robin entered Starfire's room only to receive a shock. He called Raven over. They entered the room and examined the monolith.

"Guess we know where Star is." Raven said.

"Where exactly did it send you?" Robin asked her.

"To a nice, white room. Cozy, if lonely."

"For Star, that would be torture."

The monolith now glowed and spat out Starfire. Then, it vanished. She got up and saw Robin. Without a word, she hugged him. Robin returned her embrace.

"No fair." Raven said aloud. "When I went in and came back through that thing, I was naked!"

Starfire looked at her. "You knew about this?"

"I didn't know it was here until this morning."

"Why didn't you tell us about that black thing?"

"Because I didn't think it was important. I'm sorry, Star."

She sighed. "So, you were naked, huh?"

Raven blushed. "Yeah. So?"

Starfire giggled. "Well…" She took off her arm bands.

Robin grabbed her hands. "Um, I don't think so Star."

She looked at him. "Well then, leave the room, silly!"

Blushing, he did so and closed the door behind him.

"Um, Star?" said Raven. "You don't have to get undressed to make me feel better, you know?"

"I need to change clothes, Raven. I have been wearing these since yesterday night."

"Oh." She blushed. "So, what did you see on your trip?"

Starfire got out her change of clothes and underwear. She stripped naked and dressed as she talked.

"I saw a nebula, the Pleiades, Saturn, a two-faced moon, and Koriand'r."

"What is that last one?"

"Oh, sorry. Titan, I meant Titan. I thought that moon should be named for me."

"Because of you both have orange skin?"

"And because we are both Titans."

"Oh. I see." Raven sighed.

Starfire, now dressed, sat down. "So, when Robin came up to get you when you returned, what happened?"

'Oh boy, here it goes.' she thought.

"Umm, I just said I overslept." She didn't feel the need to tell her that Robin knew of the monolith as well, otherwise an argument might result. She'd had to let him know that.

"He saw you naked, didn't he?" Starfire asked her. Raven nodded.

"What happened next?"

"I…just told him to leave while I got dressed."

"Oh. Well, that's innocent enough I guess."

"Yeah, it is." Raven wiped the sweat off her forehead. "Come on, Star. Let's eat!"

"Race you!" Starfire flew out of her room and rushed to the dining room. Raven took her time.

"One little trip, and she's already a space case." she said aloud.

She walked briskly down the hall.

_The entity took another glance at the Teen Titans. They were such a happy group together, even the one called Raven. Satisfied with its curiosity, the entity left the region about Titans Tower went past Earth orbit off to the reaches of interstellar space, off to parts unknown. _

THE END


End file.
